lungs with
a deep and grateful breath of satisfaction. In a day or two he would be
able to carry on again, to do his part.

He turned his head, lifting it a trifle; already he had thought of
Gloria, and now he sought her. The fire had burned down to a handful of
glowing coals; Gloria, then, must be asleep. For that, too, he was
grateful. He had but faint remembrance and dim knowledge of what tasks
must have fallen to her lot, but his mind, active from the moment his
eyes flew open, was quick to understand that the burdens had fallen upon
her shoulders and that she must have been in dire need of rest and
sleep.

He could not see her anywhere; no doubt she lay in the shadowy dark
beyond the dying fire. He lay back, staring up into the gloom above
him. It was thinning; day was coming or had come already. A day with
sunshine! They could go out on the crust by the time that he was able to
be about----

Then he remembered the blankets! Last night he had had all of them,
Gloria's as well as his own. He had wanted to make her take her covers
and she had put him off, and he had gone to sleep, forgetting! He
stirred again, hastily, his hands groping, even his feet moving. He had
them yet, his and hers. And she had slept through the cold night with no
covering while he, never waking until now, had lain warm and
comfortable. He struggled to turn on his side and got himself raised a
little despite the pain from the exertion, seeking her. She must be
frozen----

Gloria was not in the cave. He sank back, sure of that. For she should
be sleeping close by the fire. Then she had gone down again for wood. He
frowned and lay staring upward again. Gloria bringing wood while he lay
here like a confounded log. He grew nervously restive at the thought; it
was unthinkable that she should do work like that. He saw her in his
mind, struggling with the unaccustomed labour. And always he saw her as
he had first seen her, a fragile-looking girl, a girl with sweet little
hands as soft as rose petals. He remembered her as he had seen her that
first day, a vision of loveliness in her fluffy pink dress, her skin
like the skin of a baby, her eyes the soft, tender grey eyes of the girl
to whom he had given his heart without reservation. The glorious Gloria,
all slender delicacy, like a little mountain flower, the Gloria for whom
it had been his duty and his high privilege to labour. He must fight to
get his strength back, to get on his feet again, t